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Adam Sutton, 2012-08-09 17:55
Home Tv Streaming Protocol (HTSP)¶
General¶
HTSP is a TCP based protocol primarily intended for streaming of live TV and related meta data such as channels, group of channels (called tags in HTSP) and electronic program guide (EPG) information.
The transmission and reception of a channel over HTSP is referred to as a subscription. A single HTSP session can handle as many concurrent subscriptions as the bandwidth and CPU permits.
The HTSP server in tvheadend has a payload-aware scheduler for prioritizing more important packets (such as I-frames) before less important ones (such as B-frames). This makes HTSP suitable for long-distance transmissions and/or paths with non-perfect delivery.
(It has been tested with a server in Stockholm and the client in Berlin).
For information about the HTSP wire format please read HTSMSG binary format
If you're looking to develop a new client, there are several existing client implementations from which you might be able to gain knowledge:
Communication¶
This communication is currently implemented by using htsmsg:s. All strings are encoded as UTF-8.
There are two distinct ways for communication within HTSP.
Apart from this there is a number of messages that needs to be exchanged during login, see the login section below.
RPC communication¶
There is a normal RPC way of doing things. I.e. the client sends a request and the server responds with a reply. All the RPC methods are listed below as the 'Client to Server' methods. Apart from all message fields listed within each message type the client can add an additional field:
RPC request extra fields:
seq int optional Sequence number. This field will be echoed back by the server in the reply.
username str optional Username, in combination with 'digest' this can be used to raise the privileges
for the session in combination with invocation of a method.
digest bin optional Used to raise privileges.
The followings field should be used by the client to match the reply with the request.
All replies are guaranteed to arrive in the same order as the requests.
Even so, probably the best way to implement the request-reply client is by taking advantage of the 'seq' field.
RPC reply extra fields:
seq int optional Sequence number. Same as in the request.
error str optional If present an error has occurred and the text describes the error.
noaccess int optional If present and set to '1' the user is prohibited from invoking the method due to
access restrictions.
Streaming communication¶
For streaming of live TV and various related messages the server will continuously push data to the client.
These messages are referred to as asynchronous messages and always have the 'method' field set and never have the 'seq' field set.
Also, the client can enable an additional asyncMetadata mode and by doing so it will be notified by the server when meta data changes. (EPG updates, creation of channels and tags, etc).
Authentication¶
In Tvheadend, each method has an associated access restriction. Currently there is only one restriction (Streaming). However, this may change in the future.
Privileges for these restrictions may be granted in two ways: Username + Password and/or Source IP address.
Therefore it is possible to gain permissions to the system without entering a username and password.
While this is really useful it also complicates the authentication schema a bit.
Upon connect the initial privileges will be raised based on the source address.
Before any username / password based authentication has taken place the client must have
obtained a challenge (which stays fixed for the session). This is done via the 'hello' method.
In principle it's possible to use two different authentication idioms with HTSP.
Depending on how your application works one or another may be more suitable.
While they do not really differ from a protocol point of view it's worth mentioning a bit about them here:
Initial login authentication¶
The client performs all of its authentication using the 'login' method.
It may choose to send:- Username and password: Privileges will be raised based on these credentials.
- Username only: Privileges will be based on just the source address. The username will be used for various logging purposes.
- Nothing: Privileges will be based on just the source address.
If no privileges are granted after the login message has been received by the server (i.e. both network and username + password based)
the server will reply with 'noaccess' set to 1. A client that only employs initial login should honor this flag and ask the
user for a username + password and retry by using the 'authenticate' method. I.e. it should not send the 'login' method again.
On-demand authentication¶
The client performs all of its authentication when it needs to.
When using this method, the client will check every RPC reply for the 'noaccess' field.
If it set to 1 it whould ask the user for username + password and retry the request but also
add 'username' and 'digest' to the original message. (See RPC request extra fields above)
Typically it would not send a username or digest during login.
Client to Server (RPC) methods¶
hello¶
Used to identify the client toward the server and to get the session challenge used to
hash passwords into digests. The client can request a different version of the HTSP
protocol with this method. If no 'hello' message is sent the server assumes version 1
is to be used.
Request message fields:
htspversion int required Client preferred HTSP version. If the server does not support this version
it will respond with an error and also set the 'invalidversion' field in the reply.
clientname str required Client software name.
clientversion str required Client software version.
Reply message fields:
htspversion int required The server supports all versions of the protocol up to and including this number.
servername str required Server software name.
serverversion str required Server software version.
challenge bin required 32 bytes randomized data used to generate authentication digests
invalidversion int optional If set, this means that the server does not understand the requested version.
The 'error' field is also set to indicate an error.
authenticate¶
This can be used to issue authentication without doing anything else.
If no privileges are gained it will return with 'noaccess' set to 1.
Request message fields:
None
Reply message fields:
None
enableAsyncMetadata¶
When this is enabled the client will get continuous updates from the server about channels and tags.
This also includes creation and deletion of channels and tags.
An interactive application that presents the user with information about channels and tags would probably want to switch to this mode.
Request message fields:
None
Reply message fields:
None
getEvent¶
Request information about the given event. An event typically corresponds to a program on a channel.
Request message fields:
eventId int required Event ID.
Reply message fields:
start int required Start time of event (Seconds since the epoch, in UTC) stop int required Ending time of event (Seconds since the epoch, in UTC) title str optional Title of event. description str optional Description of event. This can be quite huge and may also contain newlines. channelId int required ID of channel (introduced in HTSP version 4) nextEventId int optional ID of next event on the same channel. contentType int optional dvb content code (introduced in HTSP version 4)
getEvents¶
Introduced in HTSP version 4.
Request information about numFollowing events, starting with the given event
Request message fields:
eventId int required Event ID. numFollowing int required Number of events to add
Reply message fields:
events msg[] required List of events, using response message fields from getEvent
addDvrEntry¶
Introduced in HTSP version 4.
Adds an dvr entry for the given eventId.
Request message fields:
eventId int required Event ID. configName str optional dvr configuration name
Reply message fields:
success int required 1 if entry was added, 0 otherwise error str optional English clear text of error message
deleteDvrEntry¶
Introduced in HTSP version 4.
Delete a dvr entry with the given id.
Request message fields:
dvrEntryId int required dvrEnryId to delete
Reply message fields:
success int required 1 if entry was removed
epgQuery¶
Introduced in HTSP version 4.
query the epg, optionally restrict to channels/tags/dvb content type
Request message fields:
query str required String to query epg for channelId int optional [[ChannelId]] to restrict search to tagId int optional [[TagId]] to restrict search to contentType int optional Dvb epg content type to restrict search to
Reply message fields:
eventIds int[] optional List of eventIds that match the query
subscribe¶
Request subscription to the given channel.
Request message fields:
channelId int required ID for channel.
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID. Selected by client. This value is not interpreted by the server in any form.
The value is used from now on in all messages related to the subscription.
Reply message fields:
None.
unsubscribe¶
Stop a subscription.
Attributes
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID.
Reply message fields:
None.
getDiskSpace¶
Introduced in HTSP version 3.
Return diskspace status from Tvheadend's PVR storage
Attributes
Reply message fields:
freediskspace int required Bytes available. totaldiskspace int required Total capacity.
getSysTime¶
Introduced in HTSP version 3.
Return system time on server
Attributes
Reply message fields:
time int required Seconds since the unix epoch. timezone int required Minutes west of GMT.
Server to Client methods¶
channelAdd¶
A new channel has been created on the server.
Message fields:
channelId int required ID of channel. channelName str required Name of channel. channelNumber int required Channel number. 0 means unconfigured channelIcon str required URL to an icon representative for the channel. eventId int optional ID of the current (or next to be) event on this channel. tags int[] optional Tags this channel is mapped to.
channelUpdate¶
A channel has been updated on the server. If a field is not present it has not changed. Most clients can process this and the 'channelAdd' message
with the very same code.
Message fields:
channelId int required ID of channel. channelName str optional Name of channel. channelNumber int optional Channel number. 0 means unconfigured channelIcon str optioanl URL to an icon representative for the channel. eventId int optional ID of the current (or next to be) event on this channel. tags int[] required Tags this channel is mapped to.
channelDelete¶
A channel has been deleted on the server.
This message is only sent if session is in asynchronous mode.
Message fields:
channelId int required ID of channel.
tagAdd¶
A new tag has been created on the server.
Message fields:
tagId int required ID of tag. tagName str required Name of tag. tagIcon str optional URL to an icon representative for the channel. members int[] required Channels this tag is mapped to.
tagUpdate¶
A tag has been updated on the server.
Message fields:
tagId int required ID of tag. tagName str required Name of tag. tagIcon str optional URL to an icon representative for the channel. members int[] required Channels this tag is mapped to.
tagDelete¶
A tag has been deleted from the server.
Message fields:
tagId str required ID of tag.
dvrEntryAdd¶
A new recording has been created on the server.
Added in HTSP version 4.
Message fields:
id int required ID of dvrEntry.
channel int required Channel of dvrEntry.
start int required Time of when this entry was scheduled to start recording.
stop int required Time of when this entry was scheduled to stop recording.
title str optional Title of recording
description str optional Description of recording. This can be quite huge and may also contain newlines.
state str required Plain english status of recoding {scheduled, recording, completed, invalid}.
error str optional Plain english error description (e.g. "Aborted by user").
dvrEntryUpdate¶
A recording has been updated on the server
Added in HTSP version 4.
Message fields:
id int required ID of dvrEntry.
channel int required Channel of dvrEntry.
start int required Time of when this entry was scheduled to start recording.
stop int required Time of when this entry was scheduled to stop recording.
title str optional Title of recording
description str optional Description of recording. This can be quite huge and may also contain newlines.
state str required Plain english status of recoding {scheduled, recording, completed, invalid}.
error str optional Plain english error description (e.g. "Aborted by user").
dvrEntryDelete¶
A recording has been deleted from the server.
Added in HTSP version 4.
Message fields:
id int required ID of recording to delete.
initialSyncCompleted¶
Sent after all the initial channel and tag messages has been sent when session has been set to async mode.
Added in HTSP version 2.
Message fields:
subscriptionStart¶
Message fields:
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID.
streams msg[] required Array of messages with stream information
sourceinfo msg optional Message with strings in it. Each string is a descriptive
entity about the source. All strings are optional any should
only be thought of as informational.
'streams' message:
index int required Index for this stream
type str required Type of stream
language str optional Language for stream
width int optional Width of video in pixels (Video components only)
height int optional Height of video in pixels (Video components only)
Stream types:
AC3 AC3 audio
MPEG2AUDIO MPEG2 audio (MP2)
MPEG2VIDEO MPEG2 video
H264 H264 video
AAC ADTS framed AAC (one AAC packet per ADTS frame)
subscriptionStop¶
Message fields:
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID. reason str optional Reason for subscription stop.
subscriptionStatus¶
Message fields:
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID. status str optional English clear text of error status. Absence of this field means that the status is OK.
queueStatus¶
The queueStatus message is sent every second during normal data delivery.
The transmit scheduler have different drop thresholds for different frame types.
If congestion occurs it will favor dropping B-frames before P-frames before I-frames.
All audio is recognized as I-frames.
Message fields:
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID. packets int required Number of data packets in queue. bytes int required Number of bytes in queue. delay int optional Estimated delay of queue (in µs). Bdrops int required Number of B-frames dropped Pdrops int required Number of P-frames dropped Idrops int required Number of I-frames dropped
signalStatus¶
The signalStatus message is sent every second during normal data delivery.
The optional fields may not have been implemented or may not be supported by the active adapter.
Message fields:
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID. feStatus str required Frontend status. feSNR int optional Signal to noise ratio. feSignal int optional Signal status percentage. feBER int optional Bit error rate. feUNC int optional Uncorrected blocks.
muxpkt¶
Streaming data.
Message fields:
subscriptionId int required Subscription ID. frametype int required Type of frame as ASCII value: 'I', 'P', 'B' stream int required Stream index. Corresponds to the streams reported in the subscriptionStart message. dts int optional Decode Time Stamp in µs. pts int optional Presentation Time Stamp in µs. duration int required Duration of frame in µs. payload bin required Actual frame data.
Updated by Adam Sutton about 12 years ago · 61 revisions